MLB

Royals 6, Orioles 2

BALTIMORE (AP)

Jeremy Guthrie's incentive to win had nothing to do with beating
his former team.

The right-hander was far more interested in helping the Kansas
City Royals maintain the momentum they generated during the first
five weeks of the season, and in that regard, his outing against
the Baltimore Orioles was a success.

Guthrie allowed one earned run in six innings, and the Royals
hit a season-high three homers in a 6-2 victory Thursday night.

Facing the Orioles for the first time since they traded him to
Colorado in February 2012, Guthrie (5-0) gave up seven hits and
three walks while lowering his ERA to 2.28.

During his five seasons with Baltimore, Guthrie won 47 games and
started three times on opening day. In his return to Camden Yards,
his focus was entirely on helping the Royals end a three-game
skid.

''I was just trying to win the game,'' Guthrie said. ''We had a
nice April and we're trying to stay consistent here and compete
against good teams.''

''I didn't pay much attention to that part of it,'' Showalter
said. ''We've kind of turned the page.''

After going 3-9 with Colorado, Guthrie has been a star for the
Royals since his arrival last July. He's 10-0 since Aug. 8 and has
gone a franchise-record 18 straight starts without a loss. This
outing was more of the same.

''I executed a few pitches, made a couple mistakes,'' he said.
''But our offense did what we've been doing all year when I've been
out there - score big runs, tack on a couple of extra ones.''

Alex Gordon and Eric Hosmer both connected against Freddy Garcia
(0-1) with a runner on in the fourth inning to put Kansas City up
4-0. It was Gordon's third home run in three games and Hosmer's
first in 145 at-bats dating to last year.

Mike Moustakas homered in the seventh to make it 5-2. The Royals
came in with an AL-low 19 home runs, so the three long balls served
as a rare power surge.

''We broke out and hit some homers,'' manager Ned Yost said.
''(Hosmer) got on the board with a homer. Alex is swinging the bat
really well. And Moose did a great job, left-on-left, hitting a
slider. Good to see that.''

Chris Davis homered for the Orioles, whose season-high run of
four straight wins ended. It was the fourth time this year that
Baltimore missed a sweep by losing the final game of a series.

Making his second start with the Orioles, Garcia gave up four
runs, five hits and a walk in six innings.

''I felt pretty good,'' the right-hander said. ''One bad inning,
two bad pitches. I was behind in the count to both hitters and I
gave up two home runs, five runs. I was trying to do my best and
tried to keep the guys in the game. That's all I can do.''

Baltimore got an unearned run in the second inning, courtesy of
shortstop Alcides Escobar's third error in two games. After
Escobar's poor throw enabled Adam Jones to reach first, Matt
Wieters singled and J.J. Hardy drove in a run with a bloop single
to center.

It was the first time in three starts that Guthrie gave up a
run. He was coming off his first career shutout, a four-hitter
against the White Sox

Garcia retired the first 10 batters he faced, a streak that
ended when Lorenzo Cain got an infield single with one out in the
fourth. Gordon followed with a shot over the right-field
scoreboard, and after Billy Butler singled, Hosmer hit an
opposite-field drive into the left-field seats - his first homer
since Sept. 11.

''It was definitely a sigh of relief,'' Hosmer said. ''I knew it
was a pretty long time. I wasn't too worried about it. I just
wanted to stay with my approach and try to stay through the middle
and not miss good pitches.''

Davis got the Orioles to 4-2 in the bottom half with his 10th
home run.

Moustakas greeted rookie reliever T.J. McFarland with a leadoff
homer in the seventh. Moustakas also homered on Wednesday
night.

NOTES: The start of the game was delayed for 31 minutes while
the grounds crew waited for a shower that never arrived. ... The
Orioles placed RHP Miguel Gonzalez (thumb) on the 15-day disabled
list and recalled RHP Alex Burnett from Triple-A Norfolk. Burnett
made his Baltimore debut in the eighth inning ... The Royals traded
3B Brandon Wood to Baltimore for cash. Wood, who was playing for
Triple-A Omaha, will report to Norfolk. ... Baltimore leadoff
hitter Nate McLouth has reached safely in 21 of his last 26 starts.
... Baltimore sends Jason Hammel (5-1) to the mound Friday night
for the opener of a three-game series in Minnesota. The Royals head
home for three games against New York. ... Steve Johnson will come
off the disabled list and start for Baltimore on Saturday,
Showalter said.

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